Canadian authorities, concerned with the increasing number of illegal immigrants now straining their resources, want the United States to do a better job enforcing its own immigration law and vetting visitors from Nigeria so that they don’t eventually make their way to Canadian soil.
According to The Washington Post, since it’s become more difficult to stay in the United States on a temporary visa, Nigerians are requesting tourist visas from the United States, which already require a certain amount of vetting, but before those visas fully expire, the Nigerians are “walking into Canada” where they are requesting asylum.
Now, Canadian officials want the United States — which already vets tourist visa recipients — to kindly ask Nigerian tourists about their Canadian travel plans so that the U.S. can catch potential illegal immigrants at our border.
“[Authorities] want U.S. immigration officials to reduce the foot traffic by screening Nigerians more stringently before granting them U.S. visas,” WaPo reports.
Unlike the U.S., where illegal immigrants have to jump a border or evade immigration and customs enforcement agents, the Globe and Mail reports that entering Quebec is as simple as taking a taxi over the border from upstate New York to scenic Roxham, where Canada offers a welcome wagon.
“Their suitcases are neatly lined up as [refugees] wait for buses to take them to their temporary accommodations, where they will receive food, shelter, medical care, financial support, work permits, schooling for their kids – and, eventually, a refugee hearing,” according to the Globe and Mail. “No wonder Canada is such a popular destination.”
But now Canada — and specifically, Quebec — can’t afford to feed, shelter, care for, and support countless refugees. The schools are overloaded and the immigration system is backed up. And thanks to a loophole in its immigration laws, Canada can’t get rid of them; if you claim protected status once you make it onto Canadian soil, the government, it seems, can’t deport you until it’s given you a fair hearing, a process that can take up to two years.
So instead of reforming its own laws, Canada, whose Prime Minister once excoriated President Donald Trump for Trump’s strict interpretation of American immigration laws, wants the U.S. to be even stricter in extending tourist visas so that Canada doesn’t have to admit it has a problem and either close or regulate its own borders.